


Ending C: worthwhile [C]hoices

by KelpieChaos



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: A2 should get some fucking desire to live, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Get together fic, Hurt/Comfort, Mildly Dubious Consent, Multi, Non-Explicit Sex, data transfer as a weird metaphor for sex, does getting dragged into an unexpected wave of data transfer count as android sex pollen?, non-traditional sex, simply because they don't know what the fuck is happening until it's happening, wild headcanons about what it meant that 2B's memories were in the sword she gave A2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:00:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24483169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KelpieChaos/pseuds/KelpieChaos
Summary: What A2 wanted: to kill every machine in the world, and then maybe herself.What A2 got: struggles (and then, if she’s lucky, snuggles).
Relationships: 2B/9S (NieR: Automata), 2B/9S/A2 (NieR: Automata), 2B/A2 (NieR: Automata), 9S/A2 (NieR: Automata)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40
Collections: Little Black Dress Exchange 2020





	Ending C: worthwhile [C]hoices

**Author's Note:**

  * For [habenaria_radiata](https://archiveofourown.org/users/habenaria_radiata/gifts).



The pod wouldn’t shut up. It had been nagging her ever since she’d left the factory and told it she was headed to the desert.

"Desert fighting highly inadvisable due to inability to replace fuel filter." It was talking down to her. She could hear it in its stupid formal voice.

Pascal had been the only one who could make the filters. He wouldn’t be making them anymore.

"I don't care." She really didn’t. The way the virus was spreading, androids weren’t going to last much longer anyway.

But of course that wasn’t enough to get it to shut up.

"Proposal: fight the machines in the Forest Kingdom."

Why the hell was the pod so insistent? It wasn’t going to change her mind, so couldn’t it just shut up already?

Rolling her eyes, A2 pushed forwards faster. She could see the buildings in the distance. "Proposal rejected. We're already here. Besides, this is the only spot with seemingly unlimited machines. And I don't want to stop until I'm ready to." She needed to fight _something_ , and have it actually make a difference. Even if it was only to her.

The children destroying their own cores left a nasty feel in her mouth. Pascal thought fear would keep them safe. In her own experience, the only thing fear did was make you hesitate.

The housing complex always seemed so claustrophobic compared to the rest of the desert. There wasn’t as much space to dodge and weave. It made it easier to destroy the machines. Though the heart of the complex was the best for that. Just a couple more turns and they’d be there.

As the tunnel opened up into the pit, the sounds of machine screaming and the rending of metal floated up. Were the machines destroying themselves here too?

Just before they hit sunlight, the pod piped up again. "Proposal-"

"Huh, look at that. Looks like I wasn't the only one with this idea." Surprise twisted through her voice. She really thought that fall from the bridge would have done him in.

As soon as she spoke, the figure on the desert pit floor froze, machine corpses surrounding him. It was mildly impressive how accurately he locked onto her. She hadn’t even really stepped out onto the cliff yet. She certainly wasn’t close enough to see his expression, but fury drew every line of his frame tight.

"Fighting unit 9S is not recommended. Unit is not acting in a logical manner and may be infected."

A2 watched as 9S abandoned the machines charging him. Apparently, she was a better target. He’d sworn to kill her just before he fell, hadn’t he? That would do it. Revenge was a powerful motivator, as she well knew.

"Yeah, yeah. You can scan for that, right? Might as well do that while I get us somewhere with a few fewer machines. Suddenly I don't much feel like fighting them." Not like she’d get the chance to even if she wanted unless she took out 9S while she was at it.

"Scanning."

9S was closing ground. She needed to time this just right.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.” She had just enough time to see 9S’s face twist at her taunt before she dashed back. She didn’t want to drag this chase out across the desert, so she needed to find a place fast. Somewhere the machines couldn’t reach.

"Scan complete. Unit 9S is not infected with a logic virus."

Good to know this half made plan won’t be actively deadly. Not that that ever stopped her. "Great. This will be fun then."

Dodging around a few of the desert machines, she spotted a metal staircase that looked usable. She leapt up the first flight, pausing just long enough to watch 9S barrel around the corner and spot her. The metal of the staircase groaned and clattered as 9S raced behind her, up and up. Each level got a quick glance inside. She just needed one that wouldn’t collapse as soon as they both stepped inside. The fourth apartment was mostly there, walls missing but floor intact. 

It would do.

9S spun around the corner onto her landing, already swinging his blade. He yelled something at her, lost in the clang of her Type-40 Blade against his own sword. He pushed into her, snarling. Well. If he wanted to make her job easier, he was sure doing a good job of it. A2 dropped away, letting 9S fall into the apartment, off balance. She caught him as he passed, spinning him so that he had no choice but to fall with her on top of him.

"Pod, now! Hack in!"

Thrashing, 9S shouted a sharp, "No!"

Like she cared what he wanted right now.

He writhed under her, trying to disrupt her focus or reach his sword. A2 grit her teeth and settled heavier onto him. Hacking into 9S was harder than she would've liked, both their bodies heating up with the mental firefight. She wasn’t designed to hack, and he was building defenses nearly as fast as she could break them down. It was only the fact that she’d already beaten his hacking a few times before that let her through this time. This 9S was...different than the ones before. More emotional. Erratic in his hacking patterns, but easier to influence as well. Maybe this plot wasn’t as harebrained as she thought.

Finally, the final wall fell with an upset fizzle, and A2 found herself dumped in a massive white labyrinth. Paths twisted around platforms, staircases blocking her sight as they connected levels.

Sighing, A2 gave into the necessary. "Pod, guide me to 9S." There was no way she’d be able to find him by herself.

"Unit 9S appears to be in the center of this maze."

She hated this pod. It hadn’t done a single good thing for her yet. She didn’t care how helpful in battle it was.

"Never would have guessed. Just get me there." It wasn’t a snap. Sure, it might have been sharper than she needed to order, but. The pod deserved it.

"Acknowledged. The path on your left appears to be the shortest path."

“Thanks.” Could pods pick up sarcasm? With how stuffy the pod was, she doubted it.

Of course it couldn’t be that easy though. As she moved, walls would spontaneously generate in front of her, blocking off paths to the center and forcing her to backtrack. Or platforms would disappear before she could step on them. Or staircases would move to connect to a different location.

The seventh time she got blockaded, she couldn’t help a frustrated, "Why did I think it was a good idea to hack a Scanner model again?"

"Theoretically-"

"Yeah, wasn't asking you.” She didn’t really care what the pod thought of her. It had already called her stupid a half dozen different ways for not knowing the newest YoRHa crap lingo. “How much longer is this going to take?"

"Unit 9S is moving his memory data around in order to shift the mental landscape. It is unknown for how long this can be done."

"Wonderful."

Before she even got the word out completely, another wall generated, boxing her into _another_ dead end.

"Okay, I'm done." A2 was going to rip this stupid scanner apart when she got her hands on him. Screw whatever her plan had been before.

If 9S was just going to keep erecting walls, then she was going to have to convince him it wasn’t going to stop her. She reached behind her and grabbed 2B’s Virtuous Contract. One clean slice got rid of the wall, its white blocks glitching out and disappearing. With it, a tinny version of 9S’s voice rang out.

_“Hey, 2B?”_

_“Yes?”_

Baffled, A2 just stood there. This was...a memory? Of a conversation between 9S and 2B. How did breaking the wall loose one of 9S’s memories?

_“People who know me well usually call me ‘Nines,’ so…”_

_“Oh.”_

_“So what do you think?”_

_“Of?”_

_“I mean, if you want to call me Nines, it's totally okay.”_

"I'm good." Her voice echoed out with 2B’s in the memory.

That was...weird. It almost felt like 2B's data had taken over, just for a moment. As if it remembered saying that and reached out. Shaking her head, A2 kept going. This time, whenever a wall slid in front of her, she swiped at it with Virtuous Contract. Sometimes the wall would disappear before she made contact. Sometimes...sometimes a memory would spill out.

_“YoRHa aren’t allowed to be emotional, remember?”_

_“I think some of us are better at that than others…”_

_“What you see in front of you...is your enemy.”_

_“Why!? Why did you betray us!?”_

_“Command is the one that betrayed you.”_

_“2B…”_

_“Come on. Let’s go home.”_

Yet another of the endless walls fell, but this time it wasn’t more maze that met her. 9S himself glared at her from where he stood in the center of his mind’s labyrinth. It was a wide open space, large enough that the finer details of his expression were hidden.

“Get out of my head, or I’ll make you.” The words were low and angry, practically growled.

A2 couldn’t stop the scoff even if she had wanted to. She didn’t want to anyway. “Yeah, cause you’ve been so good at that so far. I’m not leaving until I damn well feel like it.”

9S snarled at her, infuriated beyond words for a moment. He took a step towards her, and now she could see just how twisted his expression was.

“I _said_ get _out!”_

A psychic wave blasted out towards her, and A2 braced herself, Virtuous Contract angled to break the wave. Bright light flooded her gaze. Blinking dimmed it, but still it remained. And, she realized, the wave she had braced for never even brushed her.

Silence reigned for a second, then broke on 9S’s trembling voice. “2...2B? What..?”

“Oh, Nines…”

She was staticky, vaguely see through and fuzzy around the edges. A pale glow came off her, reflecting oddly in the white space around the three of them.

This was...not what she had been expecting when she hacked 9S. Really, all she wanted was… Well, to tell the truth, she wasn’t sure. Something about the way he had been throwing himself against the machines like he didn’t care if he died, the way even she could tell he was overworking his system, had just rubbed her wrong. She couldn’t particularly say she cared about how much he hated her for killing 2B, but she was definitely done with watching androids throw themselves into death’s embrace. Especially a death at the hands of machines. 2B’s request to take care of him was just icing on the cake.

Said icing was walking towards 9S as she lingered at the edge of the clearing. He watched 2B approach, hope and despair pulling at his expression.

That was more emotion than A2 ever wanted to deal with. She should have listened to the stupid pod, gone to fight in the forest. Should have turned around and left before 9S noticed her. She was faster than him, she could have lost him even after he’d started chasing her, if she’d wanted.

It would have felt like abandoning him.

2B’s voice was gentler than A2 had ever heard it. “I’m so sorry, Nines. I didn’t want to leave you.”

The wide eyed desperation instantly dropped, anger usurping it. “You shouldn’t apologize, not when _she’s_ the one that killed you.”

His glare was heavy. A2 just met it pound for pound with a blank stare and shrugged. It wasn’t her problem that he’d showed up when he did.

“A2 _saved_ me,” 2B corrected. And oh, there was the sharpness A2 was used to hearing. 2B’s soft sorrow had been dragging scrap metal up her nerves.

“No! I know what I saw! She killed you with your own sword!” 9S’s voice broke with his temper. At this point, A2 was just waiting for him to start stomping around like a spoiled brat. He was already having enough of a hissy-fit for it.

2B responded smoothly, like she didn’t even care about her death anymore. “I was dead anyway, 9S. The virus had eaten too many of my systems.”

That stopped 9S short. “Wait, what? But I got rid of that!”

Stepping forwards, A2 slung Virtuous Contract over her shoulder. This was going nowhere fast, and she was getting sick of being in 9S’s head. “And she picked it up again. Turns out it’s pretty easy to do when there’s machines spreading it everywhere.”

9S snarled at her, but before he could snap any more petty, if true, accusations, 2B stepped back between them.

“I put my memories in my sword, 9S, and asked A2 to take care of them. Of everyone. That she’s actually doing that is something you should be grateful for.”

“Grateful!? She took you from me!” Back to the snarling and snapping.

2B’s irritated grunt drowned out A2’s own scoff. This was going just _so_ well. A2 had thought Scanners were supposed to be good at learning, but apparently not. Anyway, if 9S was going to be this devoted to his vendetta, who was she to interfere any further? Let him kill them both on it; they’d just both get to see those they’d lost.

Just as she turned to leave, heat flooded her, sharp and static and overwhelming. Behind her, 9S’s yelp and a hard thud echoed through the buzzing wooziness. Slowly it settled into something live but steady, a current sparking sensation through her, but now at a manageable level. A startled silence hung in the air, and she turned back around under it.

9S was flat on his back, 2B astride him with her hands clenched in his collar. A2 had to give her kudos; she hadn’t been convinced 2B could actually stand up to him. Literally or figuratively.

Huffing, 2B sat straighter, hands loosening from fists to smooth across 9S’s shoulders. A2 shivered, watched 9S shiver in sync and hands clench in 2B's sleeves, as the data that made up 2B’s body brushed against 9S’s own. She could feel where her data butted up against the memories 2B gave her, feel on the other side of them how they rolled against 9S. It was dizzying, a closer connection than she’d ever felt before.

“Nines, pay attention. _T_ _his_ is what happened.” 2B’s imperious tone shivered through the connection, pulling at A2’s attention.

The hazy glow around 2B brightened in a flash, and A2 found herself on her knees, gasping. A forced memory transfer. 2B had just copied her memories of her death and pushed them at 9S, and A2 had felt it as a rush of burning sensation. 

“ _What_ ,” A2 heard herself gasp, “the _fuck_ was that.”

“Da-data transfer,” 9S answered. He sounded just as winded as A2 felt. Laying limp on the floor, blinking into middle distance and fingers curling lightly into nothing but air next to him, he looked as dazed as she felt too. “It’s never felt like that before.”

“No _shit_. 2B, you better have a better answer than that.”

The live-wire feeling faded to something less immediate and sharp as 2B flicked considering eyes between the boy under her and where A2 sat out of arm’s reach. One of her hands braced itself on his chest between her thighs. The other tapped graceful black bound fingers against her bottom lip as she thought. 9S's hands fluttered by his shoulders in the corner of her vision before he settled them gingerly on 2B's thighs. His leather gloves did a poor job hiding the way minute shifts let him drag his fingertips back and forth in a motion that might have been distracting if there hadn't been something _much_ more compelling.

A2 never thought she was particularly vain, but she must be with how each tap of 2B’s fingers drew her attention to how similar their faces were...and to how full and soft looking 2B’s lips were. The mental landscape washed out all colors, but she could swear that 2B’s eyes were the same silvered blue that they had been before the logic virus took over. Her own eyes were bluer than 2B’s. It was one of the few concrete changes between their designs.

Her meanderings were interrupted as 2B nodded to herself and reached a hand out to her.

“Come here. I have a theory,” she ordered.

Huffing, A2 shuffled closer, ignoring the annoyed glare 9S sent her. As far as she was concerned, 9S could eat a mackerel. She leaned back, just out of 2B’s reach unless she wanted to sacrifice her pretty seat over her precious Scanner.

“This theory of yours better be good. And explained.” A2 did _not_ want to play test subject in an experiment with endless debilitating shocks.

2B just stared back at her. “Once I have confirmation.”

“...Fine.”

She leaned in, raised a hand to allow 2B’s to wrap around her wrist. A brief moment passed where all she felt was the soft velvet of her glove against her skin. Then a static wave rolled over her, dragging her towards the other two. From afar, she heard 9S’s breath hitch, heard 2B hum a thoughtful note. Just as it stabilized, warmer than before but not particularly active, a data transfer request popped up.

Oh. So _that’s_ what 2B wanted to test. A2 met 2B’s watchful gaze and held it as she accepted the request.

The memories she got weren’t new, but the sensation that came with them was still strange enough to be nearly overwhelming. Braced for it this time, the rush of data felt more like the exhilaration of a hard fight, bright and fast and addictive. A2 let it wash over her, then turned her hand to grab 2B’s wrist. A glance at 9S where he writhed and a nod from 2B, then she pushed the memories back to 2B. They slipped through 2B as she used her connection with 9S to push them to him.

Once, A2 had sat by the ocean, just listening to the waves crash against the shore. With each cycle, a little more of the destroyed buildings were washed away, a little more broken down and mixed into the vast chaos of the sea.

Feeling data rush through the three of them, A2 thought she knew what those buildings must have been feeling.

Small, cracked whines broke through her haze. Blinking, she shook herself from 2B's heavy regard. 9S was shaking, legs scrabbling against the floor, head thrown back and gasping, lips shaping indistinct words, eyes clenched shut. Now that she was paying attention, A2 could feel how the data was pooling in him, unable to escape back into the push and pull she and 2B had started. He had been built for learning and recording and endless discovery, but even he could only handle so much information at a time. Half dizzy with thrill, she reached for him.

Her hand closed around his wrist. She opened a data transfer request. She wasn't sure what happened next. Fire, maybe. Her circuits frying under the deluge of molten data flooding the paths erected between the three of them. Gasping, she fought for control, pushing the load around the circle to 2B. Echoes of 2B processing ricocheted back as the flood slowed slightly, then barreled back to 9S. Laughing breathless and wild, he took some of it and let the rest surge out of his grasp. A2 could feel her teeth bare in a feral grin as she took mental shots at it as it passed, saving and organizing and reuploading to streamline the memories and miscellaneous information. Around and around it went, each controlling it bit by bit until they were slumped in a pile and throwing ripples into the back and forth eddy of sensation just to feel the other two react.

A2 let her eyes flutter open, met the dimly lit velvet of 2B's shoulder where her face was buried. Carefully, she pulled back, settling herself back into her own body instead of pushing the data to twist again. 9S sent a petulant wave that 2B smoothed out before they followed her example.

The connection was still closer than she'd felt ever before, but now it was soothing instead of shocking. The exchange had eroded all their anger and resentment for each other, and she knew exactly where she stood with the other two now. 2B's hand rose, and A2 turned to meet her lips before she could ask. It was strange, but she thought she could get used to it quick enough. With a sigh, 2B slipped away to bestow the same gesture on 9S. A soft sound escaped him, and A2 stroked his hand where it had drifted into her lap. Eventually, 2B sat up. 9S met A2's gaze with a shy smile, snagging her fingers to give a gentle tug.

Rolling her eyes, she leaned down to kiss him too. It was different than kissing 2B, but no less weird, and no harder to decide she could accustom herself to doing it.

He tipped his face down, let their noses rub as he broke their kiss to brush words against her lips.

"A2? D'you think that, maybe...we could rebuild 2B?"

She sat up, making a show of pretending to blankly consider it. One hand waved a lazy gesture to the pod 2B had gifted her.

"Pod? Set mission priority to 'eliminate machine tower.'"

The pod's confirmation was distant compared to the confusion and worry across 9S's face.

"Set sub-mission," she continued, "to 'rebuild 2B.'"

9S's delight and 2B's quiet hope swirled through their connection. Two more keys, some scavenging, and some stubbornness would see the machines destroyed and, more importantly, the three of them together for real.

It had been a while since she'd had a family. Soon enough, she'd have one again. And nothing would take them from her.


End file.
